The Nerd And The Cheerleader
by namesarestupid
Summary: Santana Lopez is the school nerd who gets slushie facials most days and Brittany Pierce is the intimidating head cheerleader in McKinley High School.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N So, this is my first fic. Let me know if it's terrible and you that hate it or if you maybe enjoyed it? reviews are always nice. This is AU.**

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"Santana? Are you even listening to me?" Rachel berry sighed impatiently as she repeatedly called her friends name. "Huh?" Santana asked suddenly aware that the whole room was now staring at her.

"Sorry, I was just day dreaming" the Latina shrugged apologetically.

"I'll say" Rachel muttered under her breath as she continued to type furiously on her laptop.

Santana loved Rachel, they had been best friends since freshman year when they were the only two girls writing for the school newspaper. She could be a bit of a pain a lot of the time, she had a tendency to take over most of the things they did and decided practically everything but, Santana never complained. She knew she was lucky to have Rachel as her friend because no matter what, she never judged her and having someone like that in high school wasn't so easy to find.

"What's wrong?" Santana asked curiously at the shorter brunette.

"It's this stupid article. I don't understand why we have to write about a group of superficial cheerleaders just because they got a new uniform!" Rachel shrieked as she shook her head. "Don't you think?" she asked the Latina with a serious tone.

"mhm, I guess so" was all Santana said with a shrug. Before Rachel could continue her rant the lunch bell rang and Santana took a long sigh of relief almost falling over as she grabbed her book bag and shut down the school's laptop. "Want to grab a soda?" was all she said before leaving the room with Rachel quickly on her heels and nodding.

Keeping her head down Santana tried to make it through the busy hallway of McKinley high school without someone sort of icy beverage slapping her in the face like a tonne of bricks. They were just steps from the cafeteria when two cheerleaders came towards the brunette's smirking with a hint of excitement in their eyes. Before Santana knew it she was covered in red slush.

"Nice glasses, Loser" the two cheerleaders shouted as they hi fived triumphantly and skipped down the hallway giggling. Santana bowed her head in embarrassment and bit her bottom lip fighting every urge she had not to cry.

"Come on San, let's get you cleaned up" Rachel smiled encouragingly as she took her best friend's hand and guided her towards the girl's bathroom but as soon as they entered Rachel internally kicked herself. A band of cheerio's stood towards the mirror applying more make up to their already perfect complexions.

"Well look what the cat dragged in." a beautiful blonde girl said confidently staring directly at the freezing Santana. Santana recognised her as Quinn Fabray. They were in gym together but most days Santana faked an injury or an illness to avoid any activity that involved any chance of objects being tossed at her. Rachek held Santana's hand tightly and brushed passed the girls to get at the sink to help clean off the Latina.

"Excuse me? Didn't your daddy's ever teach you manners, hobbit?" Quinn spat as she was pushed out of the way by Rachel and an unnervingly quiet Santana. Ignoring the stares that were being directed at her Rachel dampened a cloth that she kept in her book bag for situations like this and handed it to the taller girl so she could clean herself. Santana took her glasses off her face and began to clean the lenses when two other cheerio's took them and threw them across the floor. Bursting out laughing they each took a turn at kicking them along the tiles like a soccer ball in fits of giggles and screams. Rachel did her best to retrieve the glasses when the bathroom door slammed open and the girl Santana feared the most stood there tall and confident.

Her long blonde hair was tied back in a tight ponytail and she towered over most of the other girls in the room. "Hey, Britt." Quinn smiled as she spotted the head cheerleader eyeing the room and trying her best to pin together exactly what was going on.

"Everyone, OUT!" Brittany shouted and the room in almost an instant became empty aside from Brittany, Quinn, Rachel and a frightened Santana. It wasn't that Brittany had ever done anything to her besides a few slushies here and there but it was her position that scared her more than anything. The head cheerleader was someone most girls like her feared and avoided but right now she was stood face to face with her. "Quinn, don't you have practise to go to?" The tall blonde sighed clearly irritated. Quinn gulped and bowed her head in defeat. When the bathroom door was finally closed Brittany smiled in a sickly sweet way that turned Santana's stomach. "Ru Paul, get out of here I want to talk to her."

She demanded and Rachel failed to stand her ground by cowering away and whispering to Santana "See you in class, I'm sorry San" before she ran out of the room.

"Sorry about them" Brittany said with a small smile. "Girls will be girls, right?" she laughed trying to make out what just happened to be a regular okay thing.

"Yeah, or they'll just be bitches." The Latina replied in a strangely confident voice that almost sounded foreign to her. The blonde girl let out a dry laugh and shook her head but didn't speak again.

Santana moved across the bathroom and picked up her glasses. One of the lenses had a crack straight through it and when she placed them back on her face they made her vision worse. "Great." She sighed biting the inside of her cheek. Her mom was guaranteed to throw a fit when she got home when she showed yet another pair of broken glasses. Santana's mom was head cheerleader back when she was in school and hated the fact her little girl was sat at the bottom of the barrel. Santana knew how her mom felt so she rarely brought up her school day unless asked and even at that she would just shrug and say "Fine."

So when Santana placed her glasses into her side pocket defeated, she was about to walk out of the bathroom slushie in her hair or not but Brittany put her hand out and spoke again. "You're smart, right?" she asked. "You get A's a lot don't you?" This time the taller girl looked down slightly embarrassed but regained her annoyingly cocky attitude once again. "Well, I need help. I'm failing and I need a tutor." She said watching Santana's expression carefully. "Ms Simmons directed to me to you because she said you were, well, smart." Brittany smiled genuinely this time.

Shocked at what Brittany just asked Santana furrowed her eye brows. "I'll pass." Was all she said before she made a quick exit of the girl's room leaving a disappointed cheerleader staring at her back.

Why would she even consider helping the leader of the girls who for the past two years have made her life a living hell? They pushed her into lockers, they laughed at her, they threw her glasses around and they made it their job to make sure she got a slushie facial almost every day. There was no way she would do it, not a chance but then why she did she feel so bad for turning the girl down?


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Thanks for subscribing, it means a lot. Let me know what you think of this chapter and please review! enjoy.**

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Santana spent most of the week fighting with herself about what do about Brittany. One part of her wanted to help, everyone deserved a chance right? But, the other part of her wanted her to fail and show her what it feels like when you're not the best at something or a loser.

When she walked into the cafeteria on Monday she quickly scanned the room for her friends and when she spotted them she held tightly onto her banana and apple juice and sat down at the round, familiar table. "Hola, chica" Artie smiled daringly. "New glasses? Hmm.. Mine are still nicer" he winked at her. Nudging him playfully the Latina let out a small laugh.

"But on me, they work" she grinned. Santana and Artie had a very playful friendship but he always looked out for her. They first met through Rachel but after a few years are closer than he and Rachel ever where before.

"You'll never guess what happened to me." The Latina gossiped taking a sip of her juice and now acknowledging the rest of the table. Sam was playing some sort of video game and letting out shouts every now and again, Kurt was braiding the side of Mercedes' hair and Rachel was smiling eagerly at Santana. "Well, don't all ask right away" The taller brunette joked as the rest of her friends looked up apologetically to listen. "Brittany Pierce asked me to tutor her." She said laughing. The faces of the others turned from shocked to amused all in the space of a minute.

"You said no, didn't you?" Mercedes interjected clearly outraged that the cheerio even had the audacity to ask. "Yes, I did" the Latina nodded before taking a long bite into her apple. If anything, her friend's reactions settled her mind. There was no way she was helping a cheerleader.

The rest of the day seemed to pass quickly and she was yet to receive any type of verbal or slushie abuse from the other girls which was a nice surprise. When the bell rang at the end of the day she felt a small smile creep up on her. She walked over to Rachel's desk as the rest of the students began to file out. "Ready for glee club?" Santana asked and she pushed up her glasses.

"Of course" the smaller girl beamed. "I've been working on this really great solo for myself and I'm pretty certain this is the song that will lead us to regionals this year" Rachel said now marching down the corridor in an obvious rush. "I know there aren't many of us but with my talent I don't see why we can't recruit new members and finally win sectionals".

Santana pretty much zoned out after her friend started to emphasize her talent once again, that's when she felt someone grab her arm and spin her around. Brittany stood in front of her with her hands on her hips and that smirked that Santana hated spread across her face. "I have a proposition for you." The taller girl stated waving Rachel away down the hallway. Taking a look back Santana saw her friend almost run into the choir room at the end of the hall. "And what might that be?" The Latina asked rolling her eyes. This was the first time Brittany had made any contact with her since the day in the bathroom. "I've decided to help you." She smiled. "If you tutor me, I'll help you with your obvious popularity issue" the blonde announced as she flattened down the ends of her cheerios uniform. Raising an eyebrow Santana almost started to laugh.

"Not everyone wants that." She stated. "Now leave me alone." Folding her arms tightly across her chest she turned to leave when the blonde grabbed her arm again stopping her abruptly.

"Please?" Brittany almost begged looking like a sad puppy. Santana couldn't handle that face, it was her first time ever seeing the head cheerleader in that way and she didn't like it. Almost immediately she turned on her heels and walked briskly down the hall and into the choir room leaving the blonde once again alone staring at her back.

When Santana made it into the choir room she took a deep breath and found a seat at the back, on her own. She pulled her hair down from the lazy ponytail it was in and closed her eyes as her hair settled on her shoulders. All she wanted right now was to go home and forget about the look Brittany had given her, when her big blue eyes had pleaded with her. The Latina wasn't used to turning people down and leaving them there like a kicked puppy. It wasn't her, she was sweet, she liked to help people and her ego was getting the better of her.

"San?" Sam whispered shaking her arm and forcing her away from her thoughts. "You okay?" the boy asked with a cute smile. Santana knew Sam had a small crush on her, though he would never admit to it and she found it extremely sweet. She knew she didn't look like the pretty girls so it was a bit odd but it was flattering all the same.

"I'm good." The Latina replied with a half-smile letting him know that it was okay.

Mr Schue spent the entire glee lesson trying to stop both Rachel and Kurt from getting up out of their seats and belting out ballads they had each prepared in hopes to win over the show choir director into letting them sing solos for sectionals this year. Santana rarely sang in glee club, in all honestly she was only there to help make up the numbers. One day after school Rachel dragged her into the choir room stating that she was now a member of New Directions without giving her a chance to reject the offer. She had a nice voice, well she thought she did but the girl was severely lacking the confidence to get up and actually sing in front of the other members.

When they were excused to leave Santana stood up and practically ran out of the room with Rachel following quickly in pursuit. "Where are you going?" the shorter girl called after her. Santana had barley heard her friend because she was already half way across the parking lot, taking out her keys as she ran. As soon as the Latina had entered her car she pulled her cell phone out of the side pocket and saw two unread text messages.

**Meet me at the girl's locker room?**

**- Brittany.**

That message was received at 12:20 and she obviously hadn't gotten it. The second message she opened was once again from the blonde.

**Please?**

**- Brittany.**

That message was received only a little less than twenty minutes ago after their meeting in the hallway. Taking a deep breath the Latina put the keys into the ignition and turned on the car. "Why couldn't she just take no for an answer?" She thought bitterly to herself. She wasn't even sure how the blonde girl had managed to get to her cell phone number but she brushed it off.

The next day Santana was just opening her locker to get out her books for Chemistry when she noticed Quinn Fabray standing beside her tapping her foot and had her arms crossed tightly. "Listen here, taco bender" the blonde girl bit. "You've got to help Brittany, she's going to fail and we're going to lose our head cheerio and pretty much the best dancer on the team. That means we'll lose nationals this year and coach will pretty much kill everyone in her tracks." Quinn almost shouted staring viciously into Santana's brown eyes. She wasn't going to lie, the racial slur made her blood boil but she was used to worse. She didn't know that the other cheerios knew about Brittany's problem but, it clearly did not the bother the blonde. When the Latina didn't reply Quinn began to grow even more irritated and as a freshman passed drinking a newly bought slushie the blonde girl grabbed it out of her hands and tossed it directly into Santana's eyes. Letting out a horrible laugh she smirked. "Things will get much worse for you, four eyes" she teased as she walked down the hallway away from the slushie covered brunette who could feel the juice stinging her eyes and making them water.

She wasn't sure how much of this she could really take anymore. Quinn's words rang round her head and made her feel a sense of panic. How much worse could this really get?

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**A/N Hope you liked that, and again _please_ review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: i'm not sure how i feel about this chapter. Thanks for reading and don't forget to review :)**

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Brittany was sat crossed legged on her bed with Quinn on the other side of the room with her arms folded tightly over her chest.

"Brittany, why don't you just ask someone else?" The shorter blonde stated impatiently with a huff. Brittany almost laughed at Quinn's question. She had thought about it already but was turned away by her Spanish teacher when she explained that the smartest girl in their class simply refused. Ms. Simmons had told her it was far too late in the year and all the tutors were taken. Santana was the only girl the teacher could think of that would be free, and nice enough to help the girl since she wasn't officially signed up for tutoring.

"There is no one else." Brittany said as she played with the ends of her hair idly. By the expression on Quinn's face the tall blonde knew she was growing impatient. It wasn't like she really cared if Brittany failed or passed, everyone knew she just wanted to win another national championship for her college application because apparently it made it look _good._

Brittany had invited Quinn over to hang out and maybe watch movies but that hadn't happened. She and Quinn had grown up together. They were best friends since elementary school but throughout high school their friendship grew strained because Quinn always felt the need to be liked and be the best. Brittany on the other hand just liked to dance and if that meant becoming the most popular girl in school because of it then she was okay with that. She did however feel with the head cheerio position that she had a certain role to fill, she tended to boss the other cheerios around at times and could come off quite harsh but didn't always mean to be. She didn't throw slushies as much as the other cheerleaders and sometimes after she did she would run to the upset victim and silently apologise. Was she confident? Yes. She was very confident and people said she came off quite cocky at times but it didn't bother the blonde. She was happy and that was all that mattered to her. Well, until she started failing Spanish and was threatened off the cheerios for good. She'd tried to best to keep up her grades but, she wasn't the smartest academically and with cheerio practise and dance classes after school she just could never find the time to study.

Standing up she looked at her watch and realised it was getting quite late. "I think you need to go home, Q" she stated. "It's getting pretty late and my mom doesn't like company over past 6 on school nights."

Brittany embraced Quinn before she left. "See you tomorrow" was all the shorter blonde said before leaving the pink bedroom.

Santana spent the evening locked away in her room trying her best to study and finish her homework. When she realised nothing was sinking in she slammed her pencil down and sighed furiously. Why did she have to be so bothered by all this? It didn't make sense, it just didn't. Standing up from her desk she decided it was time to ask her mom for advice. She didn't particularly like asking for school advice from her because it made her feel embarrassed at herself and her well, lack of popularity. Knocking on her mom's bedroom door she saw the older Latina sitting cross legged on her bed sorting through what looked like bills.

"Mom?" Santana asked quietly.

Looking up from her work Maribel Lopez half smiled. "Yes, Mija?" she asked curiously.

Entering the room fully now, closing the door the Latina took a deep breath. "I need advice.. See, there is this cheerio at school and she's failing and well, she wants me to tutor her a-and" taking a deep breath she continued. "I don't know if want to. She's head cheerio a-and you know how they all treat me but I feel bad and I don't know what to do anymore, mami" Santana said all in one breath without pauses. Happy she got it off her chest her mother just stared at her with a hint of confusion.

"Ai dios mio, Tana" she said with a light laugh. Santana stared at her mother as she pondered how to answer. Santana's mother had dark brown hair and beautiful brown eyes that didn't seem to faze with age. The Latina was the spitting image of her mother and everyone said it.

After a few moments her mother replied. "Do you want to be like those girls, Tana?" she asked sincerely. "You need to think about that. Do you want to be lowered to their level? Because if you're rejecting this girl because of her position and her friends then I don't know if raised you right and I'm very disappointed in you."

The end part hurt but, her mom did have a point. She didn't want to be like them, she didn't want to feel like that. Quickly giving her mom a kiss on the cheek the young Latina left the room without a word.

The next day in school Santana was walking down the hallway when she spotted Brittany at her locker. Taking a deep breath she walked over the blonde girl.

"Fine. I'll help you pass, but I have terms. Get Quinn off my back is one and you need to tell all your little friends to leave me alone or the deal is off." The Latina watched as the cheerios face lit up.

"Really?" she grinned. "Thank you so much, Santana. When will we start?"

Taken back by Brittany's enthusiasm the Latina bit her lip. "After school at my place? I'll text you the address." She sighed before walking away feeling pretty good about herself.

The rest of the day seemed to drag on quite slowly. She had to hand in her article for the newspaper which she wasn't completely satisfied with and last period she had a biology exam which she felt rather nervous about. At the end of the day she walked into the choir room quite tired from her day and all she wanted was to go home and devour some chocolate.

"San, come sit with me." Sam beamed at the Latina pointing to the empty seat beside him.

"Ok, sure." She shrugged smiling at the blonde boy.

Mr. Schue entered the room clapping his hands together excitedly. "For this week's lesson I want you all to get into pairs and practise a duet that you will then perform for the group on Friday." The teacher smiled looking at the eager group. "It will give those who have yet to perform a chance." Santana felt her heart drop. She really didn't feel like performing for glee club, she was far too nervous to get up and actually sing.

"Be my partner?" Sam whispered into her ear causing the girl to shudder.

"Ok, I-I will." Great, now she'd have to sing probably love song to the blonde boy and she didn't have the heart to reject him. When glee club was finished Sam stopped her on her way out "want to rehearse later?"

"I-I can't. I have plans." Santana said as she walked out on the boy. She knew she was being unfair not giving him an excuse but she couldn't pull herself to say what she was really doing.

After she'd eaten the chocolate she'd been so desperately craving she fell down onto the couch with exhaustion.

"uuh" she muttered to herself. She had text Brittany the address over an hour ago and she still hadn't shown up. She must have fallen asleep when she was awoken by a knocking on the door.

Rubbing her eyes she stood up and trudged towards the door. Brittany was stood there with her back pack on her back and a sweet smile on her face. This was a new sight the Latina laughed to herself. Brittany was out of her usual cheerios uniform and was wearing a baby blue t shirt with a big yellow duck on it with sweats. Realising she was staring at the new sight Santana blushed.

"Come in." she sighed. Leading Brittany to her bedroom she walked in and pointed to her desk. "We'll be working there, just give me a second."

Santana walked out of the room and into the kitchen to where her mom was sitting, eating a sandwich.

"um, I have company over so if you hear voices don't assume I'm talking to myself ok?" The Latina said waiting for Maribel's approval.

"ok, Mija." She smiled lazily.

When Santana returned to her room the head cheerio was now sitting on the brunette's bed looking through the Spanish text book.

"I told you we'd be working at the desk." The Latina sighed.

"I know, but it was not comfortable." The blonde complained with a smirk. Trudging over the bed Santana sat down beside her and watched her. Brittany seemed to furrow her brow at every sentence that she read in Spanish.

"Ok, we'll start with something easy." The Latina said taking the book away from the cheerleader. "How about I write out sentences and you do your best to understand what they say?" Taking a piece of paper the brunette began scribbling down easy Spanish phrases for the girl to understand. "Here." She said handing the paper to Brittany who in turn began scribbling her answers.

"I-I can't do it..." the blonde admitted after five minutes and after answering only 3 of the 10 sentences.

Taking a look at what was on the sheet the Latina smiled slightly. "Yes, you can. Look, the sentences you did are all correct. Just try."

After what seemed like an hour Brittany handed the sheet back. Scanning over the answers Santana smiled fully. "6/10. Not bad."

Brittany's eyes shot up and she smiled from ear to ear. "Seriously?"

"Yes." The Latina nodded. "but look here, you said that _tengo dos hermanos _ means I have two sisters but when there is an o it means brothers? Do you get it?"

Shaking her head, the blonde girl replied simply "not really."

"Okay, do you have any siblings?" Santana asked.

"One sister, her name is Erica."

Having an idea the Latina smiled. "Well, there is an a at the end of Erica, right? Not an o. So she is your _hermana._"

Instantly understanding the blonde smiled and hugged the Latina to her dismay. Santana was a little taken back by Brittany and didn't completely know how to respond so she just patted her back awkwardly.

After Brittany had gone home Santana felt extremely good about herself. Helping the girl wasn't as awful as she thought it would be. The blonde wasn't that bad, she was actually sort of nice? Which surprised her a lot. Maybe it wouldn't be as bad as she had imagined. Brittany wasn't her annoyingly over confident self when she was out of her cheerios uniform.


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